If anyone wants a good history of downtown Omaha planning, go to the UNO library and check out the Central Omaha Plan of 1966 and the
Omaha CBD Plan of 1973. They provide some very interesting ideas, many of which never materialized, but some of which did. The 1973 plan
was actually the last comprehensive plan for downtown Omaha. Just to whet your appetite to read these plans, here's a brief summary.
I believe I used these same CBD documents for a Marketing Project/Presentation when I was attending UNO in the mid 1980's. I did a presentation on Downtown development.
I'd much rather have that Marina City than ConAgra and Hearltand Park.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Notice that the plan called for preservation of the warehouses in Jobber's Canyon between 8th and 10th Street -
east of that was mostly just railroad tracks, where the Marina City development would have been.
I also like the idea of burying the railroad tracks under 8th Street, reminds me of Chicago or Seattle.
Since the lagoon in HofAprk is man made, maybe the Marina City idea (isn't their one in Chicago) can be duplicated elsewhere. I would also take those 2 mixed use towers. Something like that might not be that far of the road in the form of a residential and business tower.
Plus, who's to say ConAgra wouldn't want to make some money and sell some of their prime land somewhere down the line for development, possibly mixed use towers?
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Yea that freaking WOW tower would be nice too! I still never got that. But yea, I wouldn't be suprised to see a mixed use tower or two in DT in the next several years.
That would be really cool if ConAgra sold that land to build a highrise downtown. I wonder how big it would be if they did build one. Possibly bigger than the FNB tower? By the way, what does CBD mean?
ConAgra doesn't have to sell the land. The city of Omaha has shown no reservations in taking land through eminent domain in order to clear the way for large projects. If I remember correctly the city seized all the land that ConAgra is using right now. It would be quite funny to see the city turn around and do the same thing to Con Agra.
Wow, I bet the flattening of 16th street would have been expensive.
It is interesting that the skywalk across 16th street exists in that exact spot but connecting the Brandeis building to a building that doesn't exist in this rendering. Was there a skywalk before Park Fair Mall was built?
Wow that would have been so cool. But as for the con agra thing, I wouldn't be suprised if Con Agra left town if the city took the land so that they could develop it. It would be a shame too. I mean it is really a beautiful campus and really was the reason for all of the riverfront development we see today. I would love to still see the beautiful WOW tower standing. That was a great building and it was a shame to see it go. I think it was demolished maybe 25 years ago and I am still not over it. The Kiewit Center is so ugly and small. Heck if a resdential tower should go anywhere I would prefer that location (or maybe the old world-herold building or the old UP building. Maybe we could build that beautiful Marriott I saw over on SP.com. What a mistake that Hilton is.
Yeah, to bad no one had enough forsite to see what the WOWT building could have been. At the time it was built it was the tallest building between Chicago and San Francisco. It's amazing that people actually were thinking that far ahead in the 60s about DT. The Mall looked alot diffrant than what it is today. Maybe we could use something like that in a North DT development.
Yes, I like how in this rendering there's a lot more active use development directly adjacent to and in the mall. Plus, I also like the idea of boats actually being able to come up into the mall from the river. Wouldn't that be cool? You could dock right in downtown. Plus, look at how the bridges over the mall actually have design integrity. The current bridges are just your standard I-beam and Concrete bridges.
Maybe when the 10th Street bridge over the mall is widened, they will give more consideration to aesthetics.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
